Oh my, today is Dad’s 92^nd Birthday.

Matthew Joseph Dennis Hagerty (known as Paddy) was born on April 23 1925 in Scotland, to Irish parents – Matthew and Annie – on St. George’s Day, the patron Saint of England! It probably explains a lot!

Here’s Dad making his blogging debut (with Mum) while out to dinner tonight in Kent, England with my brother Stewart and his family.

Here’s another one of Dad (and Mum) taken two weeks ago when we were out to lunch at the Crown Pub in Rye, East Sussex.

And, finally, here’s one of the three of us heading off on holiday last September.

 

Stotfold is a very pretty village -cum- small town some 45 miles north ‘ish from Woodford Green and home to Steve & Robert who have been very dear friends for 15+ years.

Our friendship first blossomed in the early 2000s when Steve and I worked together in London. It was just one of those meetings when you know that a life-long friendship is born and it wasn’t long before we met socially and our mutual love of good food, good company, board games and an adult drink or two was born.

As usual, we re-connect in the middle of a sentence, likely the remaining half of when we were together this time last year, and head off for a good walk to burn some calories before lunch at a glorious gastro pub in Henlow called “The Crown” where I gorge on Gammon and Duck Egg with pickled onion rings and gooseberry ketch-up! Oh my, it is simply spectacular and good brain fodder for an introduction to a card game called “Uno” which we play all evening while sipping a glass of Prosecco into which is added a shot of Vermouth. Wow, what an interesting and different drink it is with the Vermouth, certainly something to try again.

Dear boys, Robert, left and Steve.

It’s all green – Stotfold farmland with a single wind turbine on the horizon.

Greetings from the picturesque market town of St Ives in Cambridgeshire where Tom, my very handsome nephew, lives with his super-lovely partner, Christine.

In age order, Tom is #2 nephew and is the second son of my eldest brother Ian. You have yet to meet the rest of the family so stay tuned!

Here is Christine, brother Ian and Tom standing on the bridge in St Ives which spans the River Ouse as it meanders through the town.

The area is surrounded by flood plains to protect the low-lying town from rising water although the surrounding fields were completely submerged following the floods of 2003.

Well-fed Swans are also an adorable feature on the river.

Greetings from Norfolk, a county in East Anglia that you will find on the East coast of England which makes up the “bubble-shaped” corner on the right-hand side of the country, around about 100 miles from London.

Sandringham is the much-loved country retreat of Her Majesty the Queen, and since 1862 has been the private home of four generations of British monarchs.

The house sits in the heart of a 20,000 acre estate made up of woodlands and heath and some 60 acres of stunningly manicured gardens. Part of the park is open to the public, free of charge all year round and is a favourite for dog walking and picnics!

And, it was here at Sandringham that I met life-long friends for lunch:

Back row, left, Claire (whom I have known for some 37 years), my brother Ian, front row, Maria, Claire’s partner, and me grinning like a Cheshire cat!

I know that the real Beatles song is “Ticket to Ride” but I thought I would take advantage of some near-like lingo!

Rye is a lovely coastal town in East Sussex and a beautiful drive through magnificent rolling, green hills from where Mum & Dad live in Kent.

In the centre of Rye you will find cobbled, narrow streets lined with medieval houses. The town also has a castle which was built in 1249 on the orders of Henry III to shore-up defenses against raids by the pesky French who were warring with England.

And, there is an old mill which was first constructed in 1758. Since then it has been rebuilt twice and is now operated as a Bed and Breakfast hotel.

Surrounding Rye are fields and fields of Rapeseed which is grown to produce edible vegetable oil and animal feeds. It is the colour that I love so much as it is so vibrant and so representative of the English countryside at this time of the year.

Woodford Green and its immediate area has been “home” to some interesting people, two of whom may, arguably, have influenced the lives of many millions of people around the globe!

Now, that’s got you guessing, huh? Here we go:

Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the UK from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.

Churchill was the Member of Parliament for Woodford from 1945 to 1964 when the boundaries were changed. His service to the area, and indeed to the country, is commemorated in a rather beautiful statue of him which stands at the edge of Woodford Green’s green, pictured below.

Sylvia Pankhurst is remembered by a small blue plaque which can be found near Woodford station.

Sylvia was the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, co-founder of the Suffragette movement which began around 1906 to campaign for women to be given the right to vote. In 1918 through their actions and somewhat militant tactics, women over the age of 30 (with certain property rights) gained the right to vote; in 1928, all women in Britain over the age of 21 were given their voting rights.

In 1924, together with her anarchist Italian boyfriend, Sylvia moved into a cottage at 126 High Road, Woodford Green to continue her work for the East London Federation of Suffragettes to improve working conditions for women.

She remained in Woodford Green for 30 years scandalizing the rural community of well-heeled gentry and politicians with her life outside wedlock!

Sir Jonathan Ive, KBE (Knight of the British Empire), Chief Design Officer, Apple, Inc.

Ive was born in Chingford, London, attended the Chingford Foundation School and went on to study industrial design at Newcastle Polytechnic.

After graduating with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989, Ive joined a London start-up agency called Tangerine designing a diverse array of products from microwave ovens, toilets, drills and toothbrushes. One of Tangerine’s clients was Apple and in 1992 Ive became a full-time employee and the rest, they say, is history!

The Kray Brothers!

Twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray were notorious gangsters and the perpetrators of organized crime in the East End of London during the 1950s and 1960s.

Leading their gang known as “The Firm,” the Krays involved themselves in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, assaults and the murders of Jack “the Hat” McVitie and George Cornell at the Blind Beggar pub on the Mile End road…………….an establishment which is still there today!

In the 1960s, the nightclub owning Krays were widely seen as popular figures on the celebrity circuit socializing with politicians, socialites and stars such as Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra.

Tom Hardy plays the role of the twins in the film titled “The Legend” released in 2015 which tracks their very violent and somewhat unorthodox lives.

Welcome to my new site!

I am sorry that there has been a need to change sites for my blog, but try as I may, I simply could not get the comments feature to work on the last site and I know that it was frustrating for you and for me it was akin to talking to myself! Fingers crossed that this site will prove easy to read and easy to add comments!

My first blog comes to you from Woodford Green in Essex, England where my London home can be found. I wish that the town name was a little more interesting such as Great Snorning in Norfolk, Nether Wallop in Hampshire or Puddletown in Dorset, but there is a Woodford, a South Woodford, a Woodford Wells and Woodford Green which are all part of the north-eastern suburbs of London and bordering the edge of Epping Forest, an area of woodland, heath, rivers and ponds stretching over 6,000+ acres.

I bought the house back in the nineties as the main attraction was its location to and ease of reaching central London where I worked. If you walk about a mile down the hill you reach Woodford station on the Central Line – the main artery of the tube network – and within 20 minutes you will be in London; there is an extensive bus network that runs through Woodford Green which can take you to anywhere you might want to go; take a five-minute drive and you can reach Chingford station – an overground train line – and 30 minutes later you will be in the City (downtown); or, take your car, and as long as you are willing to pay the Congestion Charge which currently stands at 11.50 pounds sterling a day for taking a vehicle into London between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, then you can complete the 10-mile journey and be in the City in 25 minutes, on a good day!

 

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